Saturday, December 25, 2004

Psalm 96 - "What Song Shall We Sing?"

Christmas Day
December 25, 2004

What song shall we sing?
The psalmist says,
Sing to the LORD a new song!
A new song?
What’s wrong with the old song?
What’s wrong with what we usually sing?
Why do we need a new melody, new words, new instruments?
Was there something missing in our old song,
Something not quite right about what we used to say?
Because the psalmist says,
Sing to the LORD a new song!

The old poet, Calverley, reminds us of what our old songs are like,
All day I sang; of love, of fame,
Of fights our fathers fought of yore,
Until the thing almost became
A bore.

In this poem called, “Changed,”
He, too, means for us to get rid of the old songs,
To be done singing of earthly loves,
Love that is more about desire and lust than about true love.
The poet urges us to be done singing about fame.
Fame, fame, fatal fame,
It can play hideous tricks on the brain,
(as another singer said),
And Calverley says to put away our fight songs, our songs of bravado,
Our songs of the glories of war,
To sing of fighting and defeating
Goes against all of those songs of love.
No, the poet has become bored with such songs,
Focused only on ourselves, our wants, our small-minded ideas of the world,
So Calverley sets aside those songs, saying,
I cannot sing the old songs now!
It is not that I deem them low;
’Tis that I can't remember how
They go.

The old poet seems to be just complaining of old age, forgetfulness,
But could it be that he’s made himself to forget,
Made himself set aside all of those old desires,
Made himself stop singing those songs he liked,
Knowing that those old songs led him away from God?
So then the old poet, Calverley, more than 2000 years later,
Joins the psalmist who says,
Sing to the LORD a new song!

Look up from your songs about lust, desire, fame, and war,
Look up and see that the Lord has replaced those old songs,
Look up today, Christmas Day, and see the Savior born.
This is your new song,
This is why we don’t sing the old songs,
This is why we come today,
This is why our melodies and words and voices and instruments have changed.
This is why we ring the bells, play the chimes, and blow the organ pipes.
Jesus is born this day,
Come to save us from our sins, our lust for love, fame, and war,
Jesus is born to release us from death’s dungeon door,
And so today the psalmist says,
Sing to the LORD a new song!

The music is revealing
The wondrous event that has happened,
The old hymn writer, Faber, gives us lyrics for our new song,
Words for the new song bursting on Christmas Day,
Hark! Hark, my soul! angelic songs are swelling
O'er earth's green fields and ocean's wave-beat shore:
How sweet the truth those blessed strains are telling
Of that new life when sin shall be no more!
Angels of Jesus, angels of light,
Singing to welcome the pilgrims of the night!
Singing to welcome the pilgrims of the night!


A new song to accompany the birth of Jesus,
Music of the angels heard by the shepherds in the fields;
A new song to announce the Good News
That we shall not die forever, we shall not die in our sins,
We shall have a new life without sin, without judgment, a new life forever;
Music of the angels heard by God’s faithful ones on the Last Day,
Music to welcome the pilgrims of the night,
Welcome us to eternal life on the new earth.

Faber’s hymn says,
Angelic songs are swelling
O'er earth's green fields and ocean's wave-beat shore,

The psalmist says,
Sing to the Lord, all the earth!
Sing to the Lord, bless His name;
Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
Let the sea and everything in it roar like thunder.
Let the fields and everything in them rejoice.
Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy.

This new song, this music of the angel choirs,
This new song, these lyrics of the old hymn writer,
This new song, the melodies we raise today,
This new song goes all across the Earth,
Celebrating the Lord on Christmas Day!
Even the sky and the sea and the fields and the trees
Make noises that are music to praise the Lord.

So now we know, what song shall we sing?
The psalmist says,
Sing to the LORD a new song!
The old poet says,
Forget the old songs!
The old hymn writer says,
Angelic songs are swelling!
But what is this new song about?
What new words, what new message could this song have?
Because I have this feeling
That when the psalmist said to sing something new,
He was thinking there was something new to say.

The old poet, Calverley, reminded us that our old songs
Were boring tales of love, fame, and war,
Songs that repeatedly showed just how sinful we were,
Songs that showed that we had no direction,
Songs that don’t bear repeating,
Because in the end,
In the brutal, bitter end,
Those songs would condemn us to hell,
Condemn us before God’s judgment,
Those songs would offer us no hope,
Because they tell us nothing about how to escape
The wrath of God on the Last Day.

Surely, the psalmist had something else in mind
When he began to sing a new tune;
Surely, the psalmist had heard a new message,
A message which completely replaced the doom of the old songs;
When the psalmist sings,
Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples,
Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength!
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
Bring an offering, and come into his courts!

There the psalmist is urging everyone to come forward,
To give honor to God,
To give God the highest honors,
Because there’s a new message, a new song, a new hope.

The psalmist says,
Sing to the Lord, bless his name;
Tell of his salvation from day to day.
Declare his glory among the nations,
His marvelous works among all the peoples!

It’s the message of salvation that sparks this new song;
It’s God’s marvelous works, the way He comes to save His people,
It’s the way He reaches out to all nations,
Wanting to pluck everyone from the snarling mouth of the lion;
A new song will declare His glory,
And God’s glory is this: He saves His people from sin, death, and the devil.

The psalmist says,
Tell of his salvation from day to day,
And the old hymn writer, Faber, does just that,
Onward we go, for still we hear them singing,
'Come, weary souls, for Jesus bids you come;'
And through the dark, its echoes sweetly ringing,
The music of the Gospel leads us home.
Angels of Jesus, angels of light,
Singing to welcome the pilgrims of the night!
Singing to welcome the pilgrims of the night!


Faber’s hymn in just one line
Reminds us of what a tremendous new song we sing,
Come, weary souls, for Jesus bids you come.
The doors of heaven are open wide,
Jesus has busted down those doors that kept us outside;
The arms of God the Father are open wide,
Jesus has brought us back into the family of God;
You may struggle and strain under the pressures of sin in this life,
But in your weariness, in your brokenness,
Jesus brings the new message:
Come! Come and be welcomed! Come and be loved!
Come and find freedom!
Come and find your way home.

And then you see, this new song, this new message,
This is what you need to hear on Christmas morning.
As Faber says,
The music of the Gospel leads us home.
You are the pilgrims of the night,
You are the wandering ones, traveling through life’s cruel misfortunes,
You are the ones who continue walking through this minefield of sin,
You are the pilgrims, waiting and watching for the new shores,
The new mountain,
The new streets,
Your new home with your God.

Today sing the new songs of Christmas,
Declaring the birth of our Lord,
Sing the music of the Gospel this day,
Sing the new songs, sing the new message,
Sing of the birth of our Savior who conquered our old songs of sin,
Sing today and hear how the Gospel leads you to eternal life.
Because in that music of the Gospel,
You can hear the angel choirs singing,
Singing to welcome the pilgrims of the night,
As we prepare to arrive at home, home with our God,
As we prepare to rest in the new world with our Lord,
As we prepare to sing this new song for eternity.
Rest comes at length: though life be long and dreary,
The day must dawn, and darksome night be past;
Faith's journey ends in welcome to the weary,
And heaven, the heart's true home, will come at last.
Angels of Jesus, angels of light,
Singing to welcome the pilgrims of the night!
Singing to welcome the pilgrims of the night!


For text and music of Faber's hymn, go to the National Library of Australia.